36. Chapter 36
I rushed to the landing field only to find Ormond talking to Alaric. The riders greeted me with knowing smirks as I walked past and I gave them a confused look, wondering at their expressions, until both of my men turned around with smiles that could light up the entire valley.
‘I told you she’d forget.’ Alaric smirked at Orm and I blinked in surprise.
‘Forget what?’
‘A cloak. It may be warm down here, but up in the currents, you will be cold,’ the dark fae said, wrapping a fur-lined coat around my shoulders. Orm turned to me.
‘Are you ready, Ani? The reports say there is a large swarm of spectrae gathering near the Rift, and I had to recall the patrols because of it. I’m hoping the Lich King isn’t using it to sneak more creatures out of the Barren Lands.’
I felt fingers of trepidation squeezing my heart—the last time I dealt with the spectrae, I’d almost died. Now I was heading straight for them, knowing exactly what we were about to face.
Alaric, the more sensitive of the two, must have noticed the change in my mood because he embraced me before kissing my forehead. ‘I know you can do it, Domina. You have your Anchors and your magic. I’m already proud of you.’ I took a deep breath before Orm pulled me out of Alaric’s embrace and lifted me onto Vahin’s back as he spoke to his friend.
‘We need to go. Please ask Agnes to move Annika’s belongings to my bedroom and prepare the castle for the king’s envoys. We need to keep them ignorant of the upcoming rebellion, so make us look like the Crown’s humble servants.’
I saw Alaric’s expression darken.
‘Why am I moving your things there?’ He looked at me, but it was Orm who answered.
‘Because Annika told me she wanted that and … you are welcome to join us,’ he said curtly. Alaric’s throat bobbed while he looked back and forth between me and Orm. I smiled, reaching out from my space on Vahin’s back.
‘It would make me very happy.’ We leapt into the air, leaving Alaric behind with a baffled expression, and as soon as we were beyond earshot, I asked, ‘Are you sure?’
‘No, I’m not, but we are heading into a war. I may lose men today, and I thought that if fate doomed me to die tomorrow, I wanted to make sure I at least tried to make us happy. I hope it will work, but I can’t guarantee anything.’
‘I don’t want you doing something you aren’t ready for,’ I said, leaning back against him, and he sighed, kissing my cheek.
‘I won’t know if I’m ready until I try. All I ask for is a little understanding if things don’t go as we hope.’ I nodded, and we spent the rest of the flight discussing the formation patterns I’d worked on with his riders yesterday before we drifted into a comfortable silence.
I welcomed the change of scenery that riding Vahin brought. As I admired the mountain views and enjoyed the wind in my hair, Orm organised everyone into formation. We were closing in on the Barrier, and I could see the complex weave of its construction, including the strange purple lightning intended to prevent foul magic from crossing. However, the normally opalescent and semitranslucent curtain was so dull that even if it was still working, there was no doubt its magic was fading faster than any of us were willing to admit.
I’d never been so close to the Barrier and seeing the ancient creation of the archimages, even in such a state, was awe-inspiring. My gaze drifted to the wound in the fabric of the Barrier; the rift I’d created by collapsing the mountainside onto the wlok had so clearly sped up the deterioration of the spell. Then I noticed a golden dragon flying towards us—and I didn’t like his rider’s grim expression.
‘Sir, we need to abort this patrol. The swarm has doubled in size since yesterday and more are coming in from the other side of the Barrier. Two of our dragons barely escaped trying to assess their numbers.’
‘Doubled?’ Orm’s body tensed behind me, and I felt him tilt his head as he planned a new strategy. ‘Did any of the swarm try to move further towards civilisation?’
‘Yes, a few, but their drift patterns suggest they are waiting for more to arrive. The area they cover has already widened, and the Rift is essentially inaccessible, but we burned the few strays that headed towards the villages.’
‘We may need to break up the swarm and tackle them in smaller groups.’
‘Orm, you can’t break up the swarm unless you sacrifice dragons,’ I said, and he nodded behind me. ‘I know, but I can’t let the spectrae move deeper into the kingdom. People in the villages have no protection and no weapons to fight the greater Vella. Fuck, I’d hoped I wouldn’t lose men today.’
He shook his head, and I remembered how distraught he was after the rarógs’ attack. ‘I think it is time to see if I’m as good as you think I am.’ I said it with a bravado I didn’t feel and I was proud that my voice didn’t wobble. Inside, I was terrified, but it wasn’t the time to show it.
‘Whatever happens, Little Flame, we will get through it together, and I will help you with my fire.’
‘I’m scared, Vahin. Last time I didn’t care. I was ready to die. But now I’m not and if I can’t control it … if I lose my grasp on the aether …’ I shivered before a wave of calm washed over me. ‘ Stop calming me, you big dolt. I have to learn how to handle this,’ I told him, but Vahin didn’t listen.
‘ You need clear thoughts, unmuddied by fear. I can help in more ways than just safekeeping a shard of your soul. Trust me to keep you safe and help kill those abominations.’
‘Ani, what are your thoughts? If you have a plan, I will follow it.’ Orm’s voice broke through my conversation with Vahin, and I noticed several riders circling around us, creating a perimeter. Vahin turned towards me, the unblinking stare of his vertical pupils leaving me slightly concerned.
‘We can deal with it, Little Flame. Be careful using my fire; protect my flight mates, but don’t leave yourself vulnerable.’ I nodded, removing my gloves and placing my hand on his scales. ‘The plans stay unchanged. Vahin agreed to take the risk, and I … I can handle this.’
‘Alright, you heard our mage. Move into formation,’ Orm bellowed. Vahin added a strange, modulating roar that made the other dragons turn towards him. It was as if a silent conversation passed between them, but I didn’t have time to ask him about it.
I could feel the potential of the dragon’s fire coiling inside him; Vahin’s flame formed when liquids from two special sacs inside his body mixed and were expelled from his mouth, exposure to the air igniting them to create an intense blaze. I didn’t need to access the physical part of it; that potential—the primal core of the dragon’s soul—was a deep well of magic, and that is what I connected to. I felt my hands on Vahin’s scales warm up once the link was established.
It didn’t take me long to whisper an incantation meant to reduce the toll the flow of the primaeval aether put on my body … in theory. If it worked, the amount of energy I could safely access would increase; unfortunately, the spell had been abandoned centuries ago after only two conduit mages had survived its use. The only restriction to the limitless spells a conduit could cast was the finite endurance of the human body; and if the spell failed, I wouldn’t be the first conduit that had burned in the flames of raw aether. I’d never intended to use it; I had studied it after I found it in Varta’s library simply because it caught my interest, but I didn’t have a choice now.
Cold sweat pooled in the small of my back and I hoped Orm wouldn’t notice how my hands trembled on Vahin’s neck. I couldn’t let Orm’s feelings for me impact his decisions as commander.
Once I felt the link stabilise, I turned to him with the bravest smile I could muster.
‘I’m ready. Signal the riders and ask them to distract the spectrae. I need to get closer before they attack,’ I directed, surprised at the budding excitement for the upcoming battle beneath my terror. If I was ever to take on the Lich King, I needed to test my limits.
Vahin glided along the Barrier, heading towards the Rift while the rest of the squad followed, keeping their distance. We hovered close enough to see the tendrils of corruption spreading from the edges, draining the rest of the Barrier. The land below was desolate, with dry husks of diseased trees marking the terrain where a once lush forest had covered it.
‘Hold formation,’ Orm commanded as he turned Vahin away from the Barrier.
Moments later, we observed the tail end of the swarming spectrae as it moved towards the Lost Ridge. I couldn’t help but look at the damage I’d caused all those years ago as we waited; its eerie darkness was mesmerising. The gap itself looked strange for another reason, though. It appeared almost alive, changing shape, twisting and narrowing as I stared. There was so much purple lightning here that I was sure it was the only reason we didn’t have more Vel demons breaking through.
I concentrated on my magic. I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly, then reached for the energy of the aether, letting it fill me. As we closed in on the swarm, it changed direction, heading for the dragons. Orm’s arm tightened around my waist, and I realised how tense he was.
Vahin, are you afraid? I asked the dragon in my thoughts. I didn’t want to say it out loud, and the massive dragon rumbled in response. ‘No. I don’t like the pain, but I know you will protect us. I will endure for the pleasure of seeing the swarm burn under your touch.’ His steadfast faith in me helped strengthen my resolve.
I watched the dragons swooping past dangerously close to the swarm, distracting the demons, but the bulk were still heading for Vahin. He was so calm even as the first tendrils shot forth and hooked into his chest. I felt his pain and wanted to lash out and destroy the parasitic leech, but we had to wait. In a moment of inspiration, I diverted the primal power from my surroundings and into the dragon.
‘Little Flame, you don’t need to … that feeling … I’ve never felt so drained yet so powerful. That is an interesting sensation, almost as if I’d been struck by lightning.’
Helping Vahin as I prepared my attack put a strain on my body, but without my support, the sheer numbers of spectrae draining him would send us crashing to the ground long before I could destroy them. My breathing grew laboured, and I leaned down, plastering myself to the dragon’s neck while Orm directed his riders.
‘Annika, stop. Your body can’t withstand such a torrent of magic,’ Vahin said, distressed and filled with pain. ‘I can’t let them harm you,’ I replied. My voice was so hoarse I barely recognised it myself. ‘Orm, tell the riders to disperse.’
Orm’s body radiated such tension that he felt like a coiled spring ready to explode. He didn’t discuss my order; he simply gestured to the riders, and they flew in the opposite direction, leaving only us on Vahin’s back. The unsated ghost vampires instantly flocked towards the aether-fuelled dragon, latching greedily onto his core.
‘Little Flame?’ I heard the tone of desperation in my dragon’s words, and we dropped several metres as he struggled to keep us in the air, but almost all of the spectrae had regained corporeal form. I sank deep into both of my Anchor bonds.
Vahin and Orm gasped when I dropped all restraint, fully opening myself to the raging aether. It shimmered over my skin like a desert mirage, and they felt it. This impossible power, able to create or destroy, was mine to wield, and I shaped it into coils of dragon fire, directing the flames with a soft-spoken command.
‘I?ātum.’
Magic erupted from me, rushing through the spectrae’s tendrils, setting the greater Vella demons ablaze as they screeched, falling away like burning cinders. They couldn’t escape. The tactics we’d spent hours perfecting were put into practice as the riders returned and fought the stray spectrae with a fury that set the sky ablaze. When the burning demons drifted too close, almost colliding with Vahin, I instinctively latched onto the aetheric fire and thrust it at them, turning the screeching ghosts into smoking ruin.
Gods! That was far too easy.
With Vahin’s fire and Orm’s ironclad control, manipulating the aether felt like child’s play. I’d never felt so elated and so frightened at the same time. The power I controlled felt absolute.
Could I kill the Lich King with dragon fire?
I looked at my glowing hands on Vahin’s scales. I’d felt a pain in my chest for some time but had ignored it; now, it blossomed like a firebird, and my heart stuttered. The human body was not built to withstand the power of creation, but if I could hold on for a little longer … if I could do it, Alaric would be free and my people would be safe.
I just need more time, more power … I could do it, I thought.
‘No, Little Flame, close the gates! Disconnect from the aether before it changes you—do it now, Annika! Do it before it destroys you, ’ I heard Vahin’s thoughts, his soul pulling away, taking the fire with him.
I can do it. The aether … if I can take a little more, it will be enough to kill the immortal bastard; it must be enough . I was losing myself in the power of creation, but the thought of saving my Ari, of freeing Orm from the burden of fighting any longer, kept me pushing past the pain. I barely heard my dragon’s voice before an ear-splitting roar shook the skies.
‘Ormond, stop her!’ Vahin shouted. I felt a hand on my cheek, turning my face away from the Barrier, and I looked into the deep emerald eyes I knew so well. Eyes that had recently been filled with the dancing yellow flames of wild magic. Calm and ironclad control filled the bond, helping me to see I’d drifted too far and letting me emerge from the addictive pull of the aether.
‘There you are, Nivale. Come back to me, I can feel how hard it is, but you are the strongest woman I know,’ he muttered, stroking my face. The tether to his soul pulled at my core, demanding attention, and slowly, I closed myself to the immense power.
I vaguely noted several riders cheering, their dragons roaring in triumph. A few more spectrae came from behind the Barrier, but the dragons hunted them down and I was astonished to find that my intervention had turned the deadly experience into a playful game. From the distance, it almost seemed as if the dragons and their riders were frolicking in the air.
‘Never scare me like that again,’ Orm whispered in my ear before kissing the bare skin on the back of my neck. ‘You saved a lot of good men today, but we need to work on your control. There will be more spectrae for you to battle, more monsters to kill. You can’t burn yourself out like this each time,’ he added, and I turned my eyes back to the Rift.
‘Can we fly there?’ I asked, pointing to the ugly scar in the Barrier. It didn’t matter that I was exhausted; while I was immersed in the raw aether, I had felt the wrongness radiating from the place and knew I had to check it out.
Orm nodded, ‘If you wish. Tomma can deal with the rest here. We should see what the spectrae were guarding so fiercely.’
Vahin grunted in agreement, and soon we were gliding down towards the Rift. The closer we got, the worse it looked. I hadn’t returned since Tal and Arno’s untimely demise, and even feeling Orm’s embrace, I couldn’t shake off the deep, aching sadness.
‘I’d like to land, please,’ I said, but Orm objected. ‘We’re too close to the Rift. The foul magic has made the soil unstable, so landing will be dangerous; besides, you are tired. If you want a ground expedition, we can come back another time.’ I huffed with frustration.
‘Please, I need this,’ I insisted. Orm finally nodded, his eyes stormy.
‘Fine. Vahin, find a place to land. You, my insistent rebel, stay by my side. I haven’t been on the ground here for weeks and don’t know what dangers await us.’
‘So you’d better stay close to me,’ I ribbed, preparing a shielding spell glyph.
As soon as we’d dismounted, I set off to investigate. The dirt was loose and felt like the sand dunes near the sea. We trudged towards the chasm, and I was glad that instead of a dress I was wearing riding leathers as my boots kept sinking into the ground.
Just as I’d noticed earlier, the place was devoid of life; only rough dirt and mountain rocks with scattered, gnarled remains of dead vegetation surrounded us. The closer to the crevasse we were, the more I felt the pressure of condensed aether on my body. Finally, it grew so oppressive that I stopped and turned towards Orm.
‘Something is terribly wrong here. This place feels like a void … and it’s filled with foul magic. I just—I can’t identify the source.’ I whispered a revealing spell. The area lit up with purple magic, and as I suspected, most of it came from the chasm itself, but not all. The entire field around us was soaked in swirling aether, almost as if we stood in the middle of a gigantic vortex of energy. I knelt down, digging my hands into the dirt while Orm stood beside me.
‘Can you tell me what you feel, Annika?’
I closed my eyes, letting my senses drift into the soil. Part of my training had been in detection and identification. I could use the elements to determine the unique signature of the creature I was about to hunt, but what I felt here didn’t make sense.
The place was empty but filled with so much corrupted aether and signatures of monsters that I thought tiredness was affecting my magic. The only other explanation was an unseen danger under our feet.
‘I think there’s something underground. I don’t know what exactly, but it feels similar to the olgoi we fought in the forest.’ I frowned as an idea formed in my mind. ‘I need to go to the fissure. If I’m right, the danger is greater than we thought.’
Orm started laughing—until he realised I wasn’t joking, and his face hardened into that emotionless mask.
‘No, that’s out of the question, Annika. Are you trying to turn my hair grey? You just destroyed a massive swarm, and don’t think I’ve missed how much you’re trembling after that—now you want to go to the Rift? No one’s ever returned from there. No, I’m not sending the woman I love to her death.’
I didn’t know if Orm realised he’d just told me he loved me, but I felt warmth spread through my chest. I stood up, brushing the dirt off my hands before reaching for him. When I stroked his cheek, my fingers left a smudge of dirt on his face.
‘I’m not asking for permission, but for your help,’ I said, and he frowned, grasping my hand and holding it to his chest. ‘I’ve dealt with the spectrae, and I appreciate you’re worry for me, but we need to know what is tainting the soil. This is my job. You command the army—I use my magic to help you in whatever way I’m needed.’
‘No! You are right, and we will go there; but you need to rest first, and I need to organise your protection. Going alone is suicide.’
‘The more people we bring, the greater the chance we’ll disturb whatever’s down there. I have a better chance of sneaking in undetected if I go in alone. We have an envoy coming from the king and the gods only know what problems he’ll bring with him. We may not be able to return here for days, and then we’ll have to repeat today’s fun with the spectrae all over again. Just wait for me here. I should return shortly.’
‘The fuck I’m letting you go alone,’ he swore, giving me a quelling look, daring me to argue. It was inconvenient, as I wanted someone outside in case something went wrong, but I couldn’t command him any more than he could command me.
With a deep sigh, I shrugged. ‘Fine, I concede. Just make sure to follow my lead.’
The trek was slow and perilous, the rocks and soil loose and unsteady. We spent half the journey sliding down near vertical slopes on our rear ends, desperately trying to slow our descent, not knowing what dangers awaited us.
Before long, I was panting, out of breath, and covered in a thick layer of dirt, which left me looking like one of the mythical golems. When we were almost halfway down the mountain, I noticed a tunnel to my right that seemed to pulsate with foul magic, so I changed direction, gesturing for Orm to follow. A few moments later, we were in a large, ominously smooth passage, its walls glistening with moisture.
‘Remind me to bring rope next time,’ I said when I finally caught my breath.
‘A rope? I want climbing gear, a squad or two of soldiers and a unit of dragons. And what’s this about next time?’ Orm sneezed, then almost gagged. ‘What the fuck is that smell?’ he gasped, pinching his nose. The tunnel stank like a rotting corpse floating face down in a sewer.
‘I don’t know.’ I shook my head. ‘I don’t think I want to know either.’
Trying to breathe as little as possible, I conjured a bright spark and bound it above my shoulder to light our way. ‘Let’s go. The sooner we find out what’s going on here, the sooner we can get back to the surface,’ I said, pretending not to hear Orm’s muttered curses.
The tunnel was large enough to let us walk upright and I had a sneaking suspicion about what had created it. The question was how an olgoi this size could have passed through the barrier that had seemed strong enough to hold back most of the Vel. Still, it certainly explained the creatures we had fought in the forest, the ground near the Rift that looked freshly ploughed, and the carnivorous demons that kept multiplying in the mountains.
‘I think the spectrae were sent to distract you and the other commanders,’ I ventured as we walked deeper into the underground.
‘Well, it worked. We were so focused on fighting them in the air that we haven’t patrolled the Rift for weeks.’ He looked at me, and I saw the tension in his eyes. ‘You think it is an olgoi, don’t you?’ I nodded.
‘Fuck!’ Orm hit the wall so hard that the skin on his knuckles broke, and I instantly covered his hand with mine. ‘No bleeding here. Vel demons can smell it from miles away, and we don’t need a horde of monsters chasing us,’ I reprimanded him, concentrating on my limited healing skills to seal the wound.
‘You said you weren’t a healer,’ he commented, and I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m also not a cook, but I can boil water for tea. These are just scrapes, so try not to get your guts spilt or you’ll have to carry them to Alaric yourself.’ He smiled a little at that.
‘Sassy wench. Any other commands for your superior?’
‘No bleeding, screaming, or running away. Also, if anything happens, hide behind me. I will protect you. Follow basic battle mage procedures while on a hunt,’ I ordered, and he shook his head, smirking.
‘Let’s go, Nivale, before I give in to the urge to spank you for those brazen words.’
I knew we were in danger and that the Lowland Kingdoms were in dire straits, but in that moment, I felt ridiculously happy bantering with Orm.
I love him .
It wasn’t just the Anchoring bond, an infatuation, or plain desire, although I admit I would happily spend every free moment in bed with him. I loved him, flaws and all.
The thought came so unexpectedly that I gasped, and Orm turned towards me with a drawn sword in his hand. ‘No, it’s nothing. Let’s go,’ I said, hiding my blush. We continued on in silence.
I don’t know how long it took; it felt like an hour, maybe two, but I finally noticed a faint light at the end of the corridor and heard a rustling and screeching sound that almost resembled human voices. I gestured for Orm to let me lead.
After a silent argument, during which we waved our hands like lunatics, he finally agreed. I couldn’t cast an illusion spell. That kind of magic was beyond my capabilities; Arno had always taken care of that whenever we fought. However, I could confuse the senses of those nearby, blurring our form using the mud caked to our bodies to blend into the background.
We quietly approached the end of the tunnel and entered an enormous cavern. Grey, sickly tree roots spread out above us, creating a shadowed canopy that was broken up by a few crevices that allowed a little light to filter through. What the weak glow revealed, though, sent icy shivers down my spine in horror.
Foul magic creatures filled the cavern. It was like some twisted vision of horror made reality; hundreds of corrupt bodies writhed across the floor, their hideously content sighs churning my stomach. Strigae, ghouls, and the undead remnants of humans were piled on top of each other. I saw several creatures that weren’t created by foul magic but of wild aether, like biesy and vile 1 and beings of nature that inhabited forests or marshlands, harmless to those who didn’t seek to harm them. These, however, looked tainted—as if their very essence were rotten to the core.
‘There’s an entire army waiting to be awakened right here, and no one knows about it,’ Orm whispered before laying a hand on my shoulder. ‘That’s what the spectrae were guarding. Gods, they’re already in the kingdom. The Lich King is pretending to negotiate while staging an army for invasion. We need to go back. I need to inform my brother and the other commanders as soon as possible. Fuck … the envoy is coming today.’
‘I’ll help. I contacted some friends while you were away, and I’m expecting an answer any day now. I also still have some contacts at the university; one or two of them may even be councillors by now. But right now, we have to go up there.’ I pointed to the ceiling where a ray of light fell down through the gap. ‘I can feel something … Gods, I hate I was the reason for the Rift.’
‘Stop blaming yourself for what you did to survive. If anything, it alerted us to the failing magic. The Barrier was already fading, and your unit stopped the wlok; that’s all that matters,’ Orm said, embracing me. And just like that, I found peace in his arms.
I raised my hand, placing it on Orm’s cheek. His stubble scratched at the skin of my palm, but all I could do was look at those green eyes. Even if I had to fight the Lich King himself for this man, I would. If there was a light in the world worth fighting for, Orm was the embodiment of it.
He smiled at me, unaware of my thoughts, and I gestured to the crumbled rocks above before telling him my plan. ‘We’ll have to climb up. Vahin should be still above the Rift, soaring the skies, and we can call him whenever we get to the surface. I can’t see any other way there. The Vel will probably sleep until sunset, and if we’re careful, we should be able to get there unnoticed.’
Orm sighed heavily before grasping my waist and lifting me to the first gnarly root. ‘Off you go. At least this way, I’ll have something nice to look up at,’ he teased. His words confused me at first, but as we slowly climbed, I noticed his eyes were firmly attached to my backside, and if the situation weren’t so dire, I would have laughed.
It took a while to reach our destination. We had to stop several times when falling debris caused several monsters to stir in their sleep, and when we finally made it up, the crack in the ceiling was too small to squeeze through. After a few whispered prayers, I drew a sigil, using the aether to carefully scour away the fractured rock with a mix of air and earth magic to widen the gap.
After forcing our way through, we emerged in a smaller but still spacious chamber, its walls so high the ceiling was bathed in darkness. I could feel a faint breeze coming from above, but it didn’t fully register as my attention was captured by the sight before me.
We were in the Barrier crystal’s chamber. A pulsating crystal floating in midair and I struggled to believe what I was seeing, but the dull glow, the crack, and the shards littering the floor convinced me it was real. There were two tunnels leading from the chamber on opposite walls and a large complex set of sigils in the centre of the chamber. The crystal wasn’t the only thing damaged. Several lines of the diagram were missing, cracked, or smudged, and Orm swore as he pointed towards it. ‘Is this what I think it is?’
‘Yes, and it is clearly damaged. Still, at least the diagram’s an easy fix. You know, since you told me Alaric wanted to replace the crystal, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to try fixing it. Now I’m here, and I don’t know what to do. It all feels overwhelming, but … I want to try.’
I crouched down, and Orm placed a hand on my shoulder while I lay mine on the ground. I studied the writing intently, then closed my eyes, picturing it in my mind, adding what was missing and repairing the damaged parts. My connection with Orm was firm and steady, and I leant into his strength as I sought the primal energy of the mountain.
The breath in my lungs froze as I connected with the vast power. It rushed through my body, lighting up the diagram with blinding white light, mending and filling the glyphs with magic. Something changed in the air, and I felt the old spell rising like a tide.
‘Orm … the crystal, I can feel its power. Please help me focus. I need to control the aether, but I feel so tired.’ Not waiting for a response, my hands danced in the air, creating the pattern Alaric had taught me. The shards vibrated on the ground, and a vortex of energy followed my stream of consciousness. I saw the small pieces leave the ground and fuse with the main crystal, but something felt wrong, tainted.
The crystal was being drained of its aether, weakening it, but I didn’t know how to break the link. I couldn’t get a grip on it, though I still tried yanking the thread of magic while it resisted me. Worse still, the aether defied my manipulation, and even with Orm’s help, my concentration slipped, my power erupting in a blinding burst of energy.
The chamber trembled, loose rocks and dirt falling around us as a wave of magic rolled through the air. Then the magic died down, and the crystal above me dulled. ‘I can’t,’ I murmured as Orm caught my shoulders, preventing me from falling. ‘No one can fix it.’
‘You tried, my love, but some things are beyond even your control. We will try again, maybe with Alaric, but right now, we need to go home.’
We chose the corridor that didn’t smell rotten, but it was a slow journey. Initially, I was too weak to stand, and Orm had to carry me. The further we went, the more damage we encountered. Roots punctured the walls, dry husks of once majestic trees. Many of them broke when Orm, with his bulky muscles, forced his way through several times. After an hour, we reached a rockfall that blocked the passageway; only small gaps remained, letting in little light and fresh air.
‘Now what?’ he asked, finally putting me down. ‘Now you’ll see what elemental magic can do,’ I told him with an exhausted smile, feeling like I’d aged a century in a single day. I dug my hand in between the roots and soil and the aether flowed through me as I reshaped the ground around me. The rocks shifted, following my unspoken command. Then, the light grew bright as the broken roots and rocks began disintegrating.
Soon, the debris gave way, dust streaming past us as I funnelled it behind us. I raised my face to the light, enjoying the rays of the evening sun that kissed the horizon before I stepped through the hole.
We were free, but the feeling of utter failure was overwhelming. I’d harboured hopes of fixing the Barrier, but now I knew nobody could. Even if it wasn’t my fault, it didn’t make me feel any better.
‘Vahin? Where are you?’
I hoped he wasn’t too far away to answer. We were much further west than I’d expected, but I could see the Rift and hoped the dragon could hear my thoughts. When a roar shattered the silence, I winced.
Orm sighed. ‘I’m blaming it all on you, my love. I will crawl through mud and worm shit for you, but I am not listening to the cranky old bastard tell me off.’ I sighed, knowing exactly what to expect, and as soon as he landed, Vahin didn’t fail to deliver.
1. Vile — female demons that mainly occupy marshlands and forests; can be dangerous for those who enter their territory.